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February 11, 2008
PROBATION UPDATE: FROM ROM TO DOM
Probation Service - News Update FROM GENERAL SECRETARY
There have been a number of developments on a range of issues in recent days.
I will be issuing a circular to branches but here it is in a draft form:
1) MoJ Restructuring
Attending the Prison Service Conference last week provided a few more insights on what the restructured NOMS might mean for the Probation Service.
Information received included:
• "New" NOMS will be an agency from 1 April 2008;
• The plan was to promote the Prisons Service and the Probation Service rather than NOMS;
• The aim is to get rid of duplication of civil servants at national and regional level; the aim is to save £20m in NOMS - including regional offices - over an unspecified time;
• The aim is to replace commissioning which, we heard, is more suitable when demand does not outstrip supply, with contracts and SLAs, (Service Level Agreements);
• There will still be a role for some competition;
• The new regional structure will be based on collapsing Prison Area Managers with ROMS into one office by April 2010; the new regional boss will be known as a Director of Offender Management, DOM; in the meantime in Wales the current DOM will manage prisons and in London the ROM will go, leaving the Chief Officer to run Probation and the Area Manager to run Prisons;
• Under Phil Wheatley as Chief Executive, prisons and probation staff will work to a Chief Operations Officer, who will probably be Michael Spur;
• Under the Chief Operations Officer, Chief Officers will report to Roger Hill as Director of Probation; (clearly some aspects of this governance model still need addressing, as under Trusts, Chief Executives are supposed to be line managed by the Chair of the local Trust rather than NOMS);
• Centralisation of the current NOMS functions will mean Probation Human Resources, (HR), will merge with Prisons HR.
Whilst the new structures are clearly still very much at a developmental stage, they seem, subject to ensuring that the Probation voice and presence continues to be heard loud and clear, to have the potential for providing a more rational structure than the previous NOMS.
Napo will continue however to make the case for ensuring that the Probation voice is not lost in the new structures.
2) Workloads
We have held various meetings to take forward the workloads issues in the light of the AGM resolution calling for industrial action if workloads are not addressed.
PACU have now agreed to convene a seminar with Union representatives along with the Employers and a selection of Chief Officers to identify action that could be taken to reduce workloads.
Phil Wheatley, at last week’s Prison Service Conference, also acknowledged the current workloads crisis facing the Probation Service., and spoke of the need to urgently address costings issues for the Service. He also said that priorities needed to be determined at the centre, and that any other action would jeopardise public protection.
The recent National Audit Office report on Community Orders is also helpful to our workloads campaign, recognising as it does the growing workloads problem for the Service.
In Para 4.3 it states:
“The commitment of Probation Staff to their challenging and important jobs was clear in all the local Probation Areas we visited, but high case loads impact negatively on the motivation of Probation staff and may undermine the quality of offender supervision.”
Branches will be kept informed of the outcome of the Seminar which is planned to be held prior to the March NEC meeting.
3) Training
A more detailed circular is being issued updating on developments on training, and the fact that Ministers are now considering whether the development of the new training qualification, originally planned for introduction this year, should be deferred for another year.
We have made representations to the effect that if the new training arrangements are deferred, then it is important that there is no training gap. In addition to ensuring another cohort of TPOs, it will be it will also be important to address the training needs of PSOs.
4) Cuts
I will soon be circulating a further letter sent to David Hanson on a range issues including the impact of cuts on the Service.
5) Pay
Joint Secretarial discussions are being held this week on our pay claim and on the issue of increments. A further report will follow.
Posted by jmcknight at February 11, 2008 08:59 AM
Posted by Hampshire at February 11, 2008 09:29 PM